DocudaysUA International Documentary Human Rights Festival - 2026

Amid ongoing war and socio-political instability, Ukraine faced significant challenges in 2024, including humanitarian crises, economic strains, and the need for strengthened civil society initiatives. In this context, DOCUDAYS focused on the comprehensive set of program activities and continued to build its institutional resilience, sustainable development, and capacity-building to ensure the continued impact on civil society development and human rights awareness through documentary films. Docudays institutionalized sustainability by advancing its environmental and social policy concepts. We finalized and approved the Code of Ethics. Accessibility was a priority, evidenced by a 20% increase in films with audio descriptions, open captions for all films, and sign language interpretation at RIGHTS NOW! events. Quarterly eco-social assessments tracked progress, ensuring alignment with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. In particular, in the implementation of goals: 4 - "Quality Education," 11 - "Sustainable Cities and Communities, 17 - "Partnership for Sustainable Development." It was also highlighted by the Partnership for Sustainable Development 2024 award by the UN Global Compact. Particularly, DOCUDAYS received recognition for its DOCU/CLUB Network project. The newly developed Communication Strategy integrated sustainability, transparency, and social change, reinforcing communication as a transformative tool. Capacity-building activities for representatives of local Docudays UA networks reached 268 people, strengthening civil society's ability to engage audiences through film-based discussions. The capacity building of Docudays staff reached 43 persons with various individual training courses and team training programs. Monitoring and evaluation system findings demonstrate audience growth, impact, and areas for improvement: . The Kyiv festival attracted a younger demographic (66% under 34) with an increasing first-time attendance (34.5%). . The Travelling Festival maintained audience stability while expanding reach, with 54.4% attending for the first time and 22.1% returning for over five years. . 44.6% of respondents reported changed perspectives after screenings, showcasing the documentary formats power in shifting public discourse. . Focus groups emphasized the role of film clubs in community-building and rights awareness, revealing a demand for enhanced training on sensitive topics such as sexual violence and LGBTQ issues. Diversified fundraising strategies ensure financial stability. In 2024, Docudays submitted 43 funding applications and 25 corporate sponsorship requests, securing support from 20 organizations, including the Embassy of Sweden, USAID, NED, and the International Renaissance Foundation. This diversified funding model strengthens organizational resilience and reduces reliance on single-source donors. In 2024, Docudays made a powerful impact on the development of civil society in Ukraine, human rights awareness and protection, and the advancement of Ukraines cultural diplomacy abroad. By equally strengthening all its core program directions, Docudays not only exceeded pre-pandemic levels of audience engagement, but also delivered tangible results in justice, human rights awareness, advocacy, and international outreach. In 2024, Docudays organized 3670 events directly, reaching 209 450 participants and 7.5 mln views with a communication campaign. At the heart of the years activities was the 21st Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Kyiv, which brought together 27,180 attendees for film screenings and public events. The human rights program alone attracted 11,613 offline and online participants. The festival showcased 62 films across 104 screenings at Zhovten and KINO42 cinemas, accompanied by 104 supporting events, including Q&As, panel discussions, workshops, art exhibitions, the Living Library, and other formats. The festivals communication campaign reached 2.9 million views, generated 293 media publications, and was supported by 22 Ukrainian media partners. The photo team captured 9,218 photos, further strengthening the festivals public visibility and media presence. Despite the ongoing full-scale invasion, the 21st Travelling Docudays UA Festival successfully reached new audiences across Ukraine. From October to November, 439 offline events were held in 95 cities, towns, and villages across 16 regions, drawing 13,447 attendees. Online events attracted 56,718 viewers, and the Traveling Festival media coverage included 938 publications, reaching a total audience of 2.9 mln views. The events were coordinated by 22 regional coordinators and involved 217 local partners. The DOCU/CLUB Network, a nationwide network of community-based film clubs, continued to serve as local hubs of human rights awareness, community support, and activators of community-driven campaigns in wartime Ukraine. With 467 registered film clubs, the network conducted 2,276 events, engaging 31,532 participants in discussions on human rights, civic responsibility, mental health, and wartime resilience. 781 experts participated in these events, enriching public conversations on urgent social issues. In 2024, 15 advocacy projects initiated by DOCU/CLUB moderators were successfully implemented. These initiatives focused on supporting IDPs, youth resilience, education reform, gender equality, environmental protection, and cultural preservation. The School DOCU/WEEK project based on the DOCU/CLUB Network reached 549 schools, involving 912 teachers and 22,722 students across Ukraine. The program featured 5 human rights and volunteering lessons per school, including screenings of three Ukrainian documentaries and meetings with local volunteers. The Ukraine War Archive (UWA) continued to play a crucial role in documenting Russian war crimes and preserving historical memory. For 3 years of work, the Archive team collected and stored over 26 mln files of war evidence, recorded 7,224 interviews with war crime witnesses and survivors, registered over 36,000 potential war crime cases, 84.6 million social media posts from opened sources were monitored and archived, over 180 Russian military units tracked and documented, established collaboration with 150 partners, including the International Criminal Court, FIDH, OSCE/ODIHR, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Office, and other leading human rights organizations, artists, journalists. The launch of two new tools Lenses (for video search and analysis) and Telescope (for real-time monitoring of millions of posts and media files) marked a technological breakthrough in open-source war crime investigation. These tools supported the development of a high-impact submission to the International Criminal Court regarding hate speech propagated by Russian media figures. In addition to justice-oriented efforts, the Archive contributed to cultural diplomacy. The film "Witnesses. Captivity Kills", based on interview materials from UWA, premiered at Sheffield DocFest in the UK and the 21st Docudays UA festival in Kyiv. Two additional documentaries are in production and will premiere in 2025. UWAs materials were also used by TVP (Poland), Starlightmedia, Indie Lab, and Vitsche, the latter organizing a poster exhibition in Berlin focused on war-related environmental destruction. As part of human rights awareness and protection direction, Docudays launched a national information campaign, Sexual Abuse on the Internet: How to Protect Children, in partnership with Magnolia and LaStrada, as part of the EU-aligned Safe Internet Center initiative. In the second half of 2024, the following events took place within the campaign: . 71 film screenings of Caught in the Net across Docudays platforms (Docudays UA festival, DOCU/CLUB Network, Travelling Docudays UA Festival). . 11 campaign events, including a thematic discussion at the main festival, press screenings, and an online nationwide discussion with 198 participants and 63,598 views. . A training webinar for 29 educators in Lviv, and 2 expert-led webinars for DOCU/CLUB moderators. . Development of youth- and adult-focused methodological scripts, safety guides, and an infographic for parents, viewed 25,549 times on Facebook. . A digital awareness campaign on Safer Internet Day and promotion of the StopCrime portal. In collaboration with Radio Skovoroda, Docudays produced and distributed 5 human rights podcasts across major platforms, with 1,979 listens. The topics discussed were de-occupation, post-war society, and Ukraines fight for international justice. On the international stage, as part of cultural diplomacy direction, Docudays participated in 21 events reaching 17,910 people across Europe and beyond, organizing film screenings, panel discussions, and professional exchanges that promoted Ukraines cultural resilience and combated Russian disinformation. These efforts cemented documentary cinema as a vital medium for telling the truth about the war and upholding human rights globally. The CSO received the Partnership for Sustainable Development 2024 award from the UN Global Compact Network Ukraine a recognition of locally-driven advocacy campaigns implemented by DOCU/CLUBs. Docudays work in 2024 illustrates the organizations role as a driving force behind civic engagement, non-formal education and human rights awareness, justice, and cultural storytelling in wartime Ukraine both locally and internationally.

GOAL: Create a society of free people and strengthen democracy in Ukraine by promoting, educating, and protecting human rights and cultural products for various target groups through "DOCUDAYS" powerful systematic activities and institutional capacity development. Objective 1: Contribute to shaping civil society in Ukraine by using documentary films for awareness raising activities and human rights protection. Output objectives: - Enable multistakeholder engagement and platforms for dialogue around documentary films and human rights by holding nationwide and yearlong activities, including Docudays UA festival in Kyiv (June 2024, June 2025, June 2026), DOCU/CLUB Network (yearlong), Travelling Docudays UA festival (every autumn since 2025), DOCUSPACE online cinema (yearlong). - Preserve the history of the full-scale war, ensure systematic documentation of war crimes and widely communicate about the war in Ukraine via the development of the Ukraine War Archive. - Increase human rights awareness by holding systematic human rights events and campaigns in the framework of the Docudays UA festival in Kyiv, DOCU/ CLUB Network, and Travelling Docudays UA festival. - Promote Ukrainian culture and spread the truth about the russian invasion of Ukraine to the global community by holding a series of cultural diplomacy events in Europe and beyond. - Enhance the network of Ukrainian film industry professionals within the DOCU/ PRO industry section and hold systematic educational events on documentary films to further develop human rights documentary film production by Ukrainian filmmakers. Objective 2: To become a more sustainable and effective civil society organization in fulfilling its mission, vision and goal. Output objectives: - Ensure continuous funding of the organizations activities to enable its sustainable development. - Implement effective strategies, policies, procedures, and operational plans in response to war challenges. - Preserve the team, hire new staff, and systematically train them to meet the strategic goals. - Continue to integrate crosscutting aspects into all areas of the organizations activities. - Increase "DOCUDAYS" visibility among beneficiaries and stakeholders. - Strengthen the capacity of "DOCUDAYS" networks. - Implement and improve M&E systems and integrate principles and tools of results-based management (RBM) for the main "DOCUDAYS" activities to track the organizational performance in implementing the organizations strategy for 20242026.